


Amethyst, which Breakfast Friend are you?

by orphan_account



Series: Which Crying Breakfast Friend are you? [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Amethyst is a sad crying breakfast friend, Gen, Greg is a dork, Hurt/Comfort, Pearl is accidentally A Big Meanie, Steven just wants to help, Vidalia is my actual wife
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-29
Updated: 2015-08-29
Packaged: 2018-04-17 23:04:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4684616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff"><p>First in a Gem study series. Amethyst first because she has some major feels in her backstory. Poor lil' purple mom.</p></blockquote>





	Amethyst, which Breakfast Friend are you?

"We should go to the Big Donut!" Steven's eyes are huge and shiny, the puppy-dog face he's mastered to beg things out of all of them. He clutches his savings in one hand, the result of hanging around and helping out at the Arcade for a whole day. "I've been saving up so we get a Big Day Out!"

Amethyst smiles and ruffles her hand through his hair. She grins, "C'mon, Steven! Let's ditch these losers and hit up Big Donut!"

"We  _can't,"_ Steven says reproachfully, glancing towards the shut door of the temple. Amethyst sighs and lets her hand drop; her and Steven have been hanging out on their own all day, and it'll be an unpleasant jolt back to reality to go eat stale donuts and make small talk with Pearl and Garnet. All the same, whatever Steven wants, Amethyst is fine with. (Totally.)

"Okay, Steve-y. I'll just be here, dying of hunger," Amethyst says aloud, changing into a purple cat and mewling piteously. 

Today's been  _weird._

First, Pearl and Garnet went on a mission without telling Amethyst. She understands that. She's kind of a huge douchebag and a real problem on missions, so it's totally fine that they left her sleeping and went to find Peridot. Amethyst doesn't mind. So she hung out with Steven and Greg down at the car wash for a few hours, which wasn't as awkward as it could have been, entertaining them by turning into all sorts of animals and very carefully avoiding actual conversation with either of them. (Or the big stack of tapes sitting in Greg's storage unit.)

Today had even been fun. 

"Amethyst? They're taking a long time in there," Steven says worriedly. The dollar bills fall from his hand. "Do you think they were hurt? Do you think they need healing spit?"

"If it was a mission they didn't need me on, they shouldn't have got injured," Amethyst replies. It sounds more venomous aloud than it did in her head. 

"Why didn't you go?" Is Steven's next train of thought. He plucks an apple from the bowl and starts tossing it in the air, looking curiously at Amethyst, "Did  _you_ get hurt last mission?"

"Nah, Steven, just didn't feel like it!" Amethyst says breezily, "Do you wanna come into the temple to look for these guys? They're totally moping about how off their game was without me." 

Steven jumps at the opportunity to go into the temple, like she knew he would, "Yeah!" He squeals, starry-eyed once more, leaping to his feet and placing his apple carefully back in the bowl. 

"Let's go-go!" Amethyst shrugs her trailing sleeve up her shoulder and goes to open the temple door, almost there before it slides open. 

Garnet and Pearl are deep in hushed conversation, and hardly look up or say hi to Amethyst and Steven. Amethyst can feel Steven's shock like a tangible  _thing,_ if only because Steven feels things so strongly they become almost real to creatures like Gems. It hurts her, sort of, and she hopes the other two can feel it as well. 

Pearl is explaining something using her Gem as a hologram. Garnet is nodding thoughtfully. They ignore Steven. 

"Did we offend them?" Steven asks in what he thinks is a whisper, "Amethyst? Do you think we did something wrong?" He's so  _worried._ Like Garnet and Pearl don't dote on him. Like they wouldn't shatter their gems for him. A sneaky part of Amethyst's mind, the devil on her shoulder, asks if they would do something like that for  _her._

"You didn't," Amethyst assures him, "I might have. But hey, go tell them about your dinner plans, we can go throw fry bits at Frybo on the pier! How about it?"

"Yeah!" Steven punches the air, happy again, and tackles Garnet's leg. Even Garnet can't ignore that, and all secret plans are hushed and silenced. Steven is the centre of attention, and Amethyst smiles by herself. 

Who cares if she's not invited on things? Who cares if she doesn't know the secretest of secret plans? Steven's her friend. When Steven grows up, he'll be like Rose was, and everything will be back to the glory days millennia ago. 

* * *

_"This isn't a good place. I don't like it here. This is the Amethyst section. Mass-produced Gems are never good for anything," she hears the whisper._

_"Oh, Pearl," says another voice, warmer and lighter and full of happiness, "You only say that. The Pearl Kindergartens of Rubeon ring any bells in that little Gem of yours?"_

_"Can we just find the Gems and get out before someone gets to us?" The third voice is grumpy and full of barely-contained rage. In the dark Amethyst hears footsteps coming closer to her hole, to the last spot left to her where she can be safe._

_"Ruby," says a fourth voice, calming and soft, "Cool down. We'll find them and leave." There's a noise and a blast of light -_

_"Good to have you back, Garnet," says the first voice. She's got a tinkly way of finishing her sentences. Amethyst likes it._

_And then light._

_"Hello, there," says the Gem, glowing pink and beaming smiles, "Amethyst, right?"  
_

_"Yuh-huh," Amethyst nods. She doesn't like this one bit, even if the Gem in front of her looks wonderfully safe._

_"You want to fight against the people that did this?"_

_"Yeah," Amethyst nods again, far more enthusiastically._

_"Let's go, then," says the Gem, and offers her hand. Amethyst takes it. She always remembers that moment as the time she first turned from mindless Gem reproduction to someone that could think and feel and know, someone full of wonder and pain and happiness and emotion. Amethyst is Amethyst, and even as her sisters in Gemhood are destroyed along with the kindergarten she stays safe, beside Rose Quartz._

_Rose. Her saviour. Her healer. Her friend._

* * *

"What did you do today?" Pearl asks Steven as she's zipping up his coat, preparing for a breezy evening on the boardwalk. 

Steven beams up at Amethyst, "Me and Amethyst went swimming. We had competitions to see who could breathe underwater longest, but Amethyst won everytime. And then we went to hang out with Dad, and Amethyst ate the cardboard cutout he had up all summer. He was super happy. And I cleaned people's drives until I had enough money to go get pizza as a big family!" 

"Too right, kiddo," Amethyst grins back. The other two can't possibly find anything wrong with that day, right?

"Good," Garnet says, her voice flat but her lips lifted. 

Pearl isn't so optimistic. "Amethyst can breathe underwater all the time. I hope you didn't do anything foolish," she scolds Steven, buttoning the top of his coat and smoothing a crease in the shoulder, "You  _know_ Gems have special powers, Steven."

"I swallowed a lot of water," Steven concedes, "But it's fine. I just coughed it up again. Amethyst thought it was funny. It was!"

"Amethyst!" Pearl exclaims, and Amethyst swallows her disappointment. As if Pearl has any right to be so, so, so demeaning when she ran off with Garnet alone, and then come back and worm their way into the spot Amethyst had been enjoying in Steven's eyes. (Pearl and Garnet are wonderful substitute moms. Amethyst is... not.)

"It's fine," Amethyst says grouchily, "And anyway, Steven's part Gem too. We were seeing if he could turn into a fish."

That, apparently, is the wrong thing to say. 

"That was very irresponsible. Remember the last time Steven shapeshifted?" Garnet says mildly. 

Normally, Amethyst would retort, but she sees Steven's face falling. She's not going to wreck his evening for him, not whenever he swept all those yards for a whole hour today. They can save this. It's the responsible thing to do, isn't it? So she shrugs, "Got it. Won't do it next time. Hey, Steven, don't look so down! Look!" She turns her arm into a cat's paw, which never fails to cheer him up. 

Sure enough his frown vanishes and he giggles as she flails around. 

Pearl frowns. "Well. Let's go, shall we?"

"Can Dad come?" Steven asks, voice muffled from the hood of his coat. Amethyst pulls it down for him. 

Everyone sees Pearl wince. "Well..."

"I'll get Greg!" Amethyst chirps, and bounces out the door before Garnet or Pearl can say anything. Not that they would. They're probably enjoying so much time away from her today, time to get back into the good books and boot her out the back way. 

Amethyst keeps her chin up. 

Like she needs any of them. She has at least one other friend, and their recent re-acquaintance has made her the happiest she's been in years. 

Amethyst just needs the memory of Rose and the talks with Vidalia and long nights sneaking into Greg's van to watch sitcoms. She needs the feeling of smashing Peridot's weapons and the feeling of being useful.

And hanging out with Jamie every so often. Amethyst's a fantastic actor; she's got all the costumes. 

So yeah - who needs those two?

Not her. 

* * *

_"Hello! Are you new to town? I brought cookies to welcome you around, but... I'm sorry, I can't seem to find your house."_

_Amethyst raises her eyebrow. "Our tem - our house is kinda hidden. You want me to take those? It's totally awesome that you made them, by the way. Like, totally awesome. Thanks for 'em!"_

_"I'm Vidalia," the woman explains, "Who're you?"_

_Amethyst's mouth drops. "I - uh, I'm - uh, Amethyst." Wow. It's been ages since she's hung out with a human. Humans don't get Gem names._

_"Cool!" Vidalia holds out her hand, which Amethyst shakes happily. Vidalia is tall and willowy, her pale blonde hair sparkling in the sun. Her summer dress is flecked with paint and her feet are bare, showing her intricately painted toenails. Purple, spotted with lilac. Amethyst's favourite colours. Amethyst wonders if Vidalia knows she has a bitten paintbrush behind her ear, and decides not to point it out just in case. Pearl's always onto her about being less abrasive, isn't she?_

_"Actually, we're not new," Amethyst decides to throw caution to the winds, "It's just since one of my friends started hanging out with Greg Universe that we actually came into the city a bit more. It's cool! I love that pizza place on the boardwalk, and Smiley does the best donut dance ever."_

_"I know!" Vidalia laughs. It's loud and uncaring, so unlike the type of laughter Pearl or Ruby or Sapphire or Rose do. Those are delicate, like ballet and ribbons and bubbles. Vidalia laughs like a brass band, like the colour blue, like Amethyst does._

_"You're very pretty," Amethyst blurts before she can stop herself, then gasps and covers her mouth, "Sorry, I'm working on being nice. Sorry. Sorry."_

_Vidalia smiles, "So are you. Want to bring those cookies back to my house? We can have tea and - do you like art?"_

_Amethyst shrugs. In all truth, she's never really thought about it. "Isn't it all washy boring stuff?"_

_"Not the way **I** do it," Vidalia grins. A mischievous twinkle sparkles in her eyes. "So how about it? Come back to my house?"_

_That's really all the invitation Amethyst needs._

_Vidalia doesn't paint like anyone Amethyst's ever seen. Pearl paints sometimes, when Rose persuades her, but Pearl likes to use pale watercolours and ration her brushstrokes like there's a limited supply. Rose can draw, sure, but she likes to do it using cloud, which is a little... unconventional. Vidalia just slops the paint onto the canvas while Amethyst makes funny faces at her, using whole tubes of purple and black and blue and white for each painting. It looks wonderful._

_And Vidalia listens to her. Amethyst returns the favour._

_And if they exchange a few giggly kisses and hold hands late into the night, who cares? Yellowtail doesn't, when he comes along._

_Although -_

_Marty does, when he and Greg come into town like a whirlwind. Vidalia loves him._

_"I love you, too," she insists to Amethyst. "I love you. I love you. I love him, too."_

_Marty doesn't like Amethyst, and tells her so._

_"You're like those freaks Greg's always hanging out with," he hisses, fists raised menacingly, "Stay away from my Vi."_

_Amethyst refuses to be imitated, and she'll never tell Vidalia. She growls. "You think I can't beat you up? I was here for her before you were. And I'll be here for her after you're gone, you pathetic piece of mud. And we 'freaks' are stealing your talent, so hah!"_

_She pretends not to see the face at the window, blonde hair sparkling in the moonlight, although when Marty drives out of town he doesn't take Vidalia with him._

_"I love you," she smiles._

_"Yeah," Amethyst nods and pecks her cheek, and doesn't think about Yellowtail. At least Sour Cream likes her._

* * *

"Amethyst!" Greg turns around, looking startled, as she transforms from purple seagull to her normal form. "Back so soon?"

"Here to invite y'all to hang out on the boardwalk. Steven's super excited," Amethyst explains, pulling her fingers through her hair. It's knotted from the flight. 

"Oh! Are the others back, then?" Greg props the guitar he was tuning up against the wall and shoves a few boxes aside in his storage unit, "Great! Steven wants to buy pizza, right?"

"Yeah," Amethyst says. She feels awkward, more awkward than usual. And she's not about to go blasting off about her fellow Crystal Gems to  _Greg Universe,_ the guy that used to hang with them all the time. 

Greg shuts the door. "Want to walk together?"

"Sure!" Amethyst surprises even herself. She's been thinking about the past way too much. 

He grins, a flash of who he was fifteen years ago showing in his eyes for a second, gone when she blinks. "Awesome! Hey, you know who I bumped into at the Pizza's the other day?"

Amethyst shrugs, beginning to walk. "Dunno. Marty The Evil Terminator Dude?"

"No way!" Greg laughs. He keeps pace easily. "Vidalia! Oh, man, what with one thing and another, I haven't spoken to her in ages. Remember way back then?"

"Garage band buddies," Amethyst smiles in memory. 

"Your  _hair,"_ Greg exclaims. 

 _"Your_ hair."

"Wait - Vi's hair."

Yeah!"

* * *

_"There's someone I want you to meet," Vidalia says, tugging on Amethyst's hand. "He's my best friend."_

_"Greg! I know him! Our leade- our friend is kind of dating him," Amethyst explains, and the man in front of them flushes bright red. "He's not as bad as Marty, I suppose. Plus, he's good at guitar."_

_"Amethyst? You're Vidalia's big secret?" Greg looks nonplussed._

_Amethyst makes sure her hand is low on Vidalia's waist, "Yeah, man! Hey, you sound way cooler when Vi's describing you."_

_"You too."_

_And then -_

_Greg's pretty cool. Amethyst starts going to his house, or Vidalia's house, but never the temple, just to hang out and watch TV. Greg is as big a fan of sitcoms and family drama shows as she is, although the three of them make an agreement - no shows about accidentally mean older sisters, and no shows with abusive boyfriends, and no shows where the fat sister is the punchline._

_It works pretty well._

_"You're friends with Universe," Pearl says one day, like it isn't obvious._

_"Greg's pretty awesome," Amethyst agrees, one foot out the door already, "And I'm going out to see him now, so, like, bye-"_

_"Is it wise?" Pearl interrupts. She's got that holier-than-thou look on her face._

_"To be friends with Greg? Uh... yeah? Rosie's dating him, already, and I'm kind of dating his best friend, so everything works out. Whoo! Bye-"_

_"You're spending too much time with him."_

_"What?!" Amethyst's mouth drops open. Anger pulses through her body, "You're angry 'cause I'm here all the time, then you're mad 'cause I leave? You don't own me! I'm a free Gem now, remember?"_

_She doesn't hear what Pearl says next._

_But Greg's pretty cool, yeah, and the three of them are inseparable._

_Until they aren't._

* * *

"Dad!" Steven yells happily, and runs towards them, hugging them both. 

"Oof," Amethyst wheezes, "Watch it, Steven. Ah, just kidding. Knock yourself out."

She can put up with anything for Steven, she thinks as she watches him chatter happily. Steven's the most important person,  _ever._

"Thank you for today," says a voice by her ear. 

Amethyst jumps. It's...  _Pearl?_ _  
_

"Uh... no problem," she says, shifting uncomfortably. 

"We shouldn't have left you. We... it was to the Kindergarten. We didn't want to hurt you," Pearl continues. She sounds genuinely sorry. Weird. 

"No problem," Amethyst repeats, but happier. 

Yeah, she's not perfect. But she's as good as she'll get, in a grubby sort of way. Yeah. 

She smiles at Pearl, who smiles back, no hidden meaning in her face. Garnet nods contentedly. 

Yeah. 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> First in a Gem study series. Amethyst first because she has some major feels in her backstory. Poor lil' purple mom.


End file.
